LA RONDe's last CAROUSE. 51 



"Weary at length of the hot room, and the in-- ' 



cessant scraping of fiddles and stamping of feet, we 



returned to camp and proposed to start again. La 



Ronde, who had been in various stages of intoxication 



ever since leaving Fort Grarry, taking parting drinks 



with his friends at every opportunity, had disappeared, 



and the others endeavoured to persuade us that it was 



too late to go further that night. We overruled their 



objections, however, and set out. La Eonde made his 



appearance before we had gone very far, considerably 



sobered, and very penitent. He assured us he had had 



his last drunk for many a long day, saying, " Je boive 



pas souvent, messieurs, mais quand je boive, je boive 



comme il faut, c'est ma facon voyez vous.'' And so it 



turned out, for we never had to complain of him 



again, and although we frequently ofiered him 



rum, he always refused it, declaring he did not 



care for it unless he could have a regular carouse. 



And thus it is with both half-breeds and Indians ; 



they do not drink from a liking for the taste of the 



liquor, but simply to produce the happy state of 



intoxication. 



After leaving Portage La Prairie, fifty miles beyond 

 Port Grarry, and the western boundary of the settle- 

 ment, we entered a fine, undulating country, full of 

 lakes and marshes thronged with wild-fowl, and studded 

 with pretty copses of aspen. As we rode along we 

 continually came across the skulls of bufialo, whitened 

 by age and exposure. A few years ago bufialo were 

 plentiful along the road between Eed Eiver and 

 Carlton. The prairies were gay with the flowers 



E 2 



